Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is transforming the way we live, work, and interact with technology. This introductory, asynchronous course provides students with a foundational understanding of A.I., its core principles, and its growing impact across industries. Students will explore key topics such as machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, and robotics, gaining insight into how A.I. systems are designed, trained, and deployed. Using real-world case studies, students will examine A.I. applications in fields such as healthcare, finance, cybersecurity, and automation. The course also covers ethical considerations, including bias in A.I., privacy concerns, and the future of human-A.I. collaboration. No prior programming or technical experience is required. This course is designed for students from all academic backgrounds who are interested in understanding A.I. concepts and their implications. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify major A.I. technologies, recognize their societal and business impacts, and critically assess the benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence in today’s world. 

This course will focus on needed reforms in the United States criminal justice system. Emphasis will be placed on race, policing, prosecutions, and mass incarceration. Guided by leading activists in this field, students will learn the necessary skills and strategies needed to effect change in the 21st Century.

This course will explore current legal and policy issues related to access to reproductive health care, with an emphasis on Supreme Court jurisprudence and legislative efforts to both expand and curtail reproductive rights. Particular attention will be paid to the interplay between the branches of government when crafting, implementing, and interpreting laws regulating reproduction. Topics may include the development of privacy law; state efforts to exercise control over contraception, pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth; and the balancing of privacy rights and other freedoms, such as religious freedom and freedom of speech.

The course will seek answers to some of the most pressing questions facing today's world. For example, what are the main challenges international businesses face when navigating the increasing patterns of global interdependence and trade? How are goods, people, and ideas moving around the world in new ways? If globalization goes beyond our borders, it underscores the fact that problems such as financial crises, conflicts, and environmental concerns are now experienced on a global scale, affecting countries, businesses, and communities. The recent pandemic illustrates how important it is to understand the link between public health and economic activity. This class will be interdisciplinary to reflect the challenges international businesses and entrepreneurs face in today's globalized world. This class will therefore examine the intersection of globalization, economic development, political science, the environment, and gender issues. Through the use of videos, newspaper articles, and other media tools, we will uncover what it means for businesses and individuals to be globally oriented in today's world.

Diplomacy has been a significant form of interaction between sovereign entities since antiquity. In our time of tremendous social, political, and economic change, diplomacy persists as a prominent feature of international relations. It has been alternatively reviled as facilitating war and misperception, too antiquated to mitigate global issues, yet also praised as the only useful process for peace and effective communication. In this course, we will explore how scholars and practitioners have viewed diplomacy, offering arguments about its function, practice, limits, and response to change.

Students interested in medicine, the behavioral sciences, or life sciences will learn how the structure and function of the nervous system relates to human memory, learning, emotions, and sensations; and how psychologists understand normal and abnormal behaviors in terms of these processes. Over the last twenty years, knowledge of the brain has been greatly enhanced by the development of new neuroscience tools and techniques to examine neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology, and neurophysiology. Students will learn how to interpret the results of brain imaging and neuropsychological tests, which are used to probe the functioning of the human brain in both normal and abnormal states. Students will also learn about the value of animal models to understanding brain structure and function. They will perform simulations of brain and spinal cord sheep dissections; and study the structure of nerve cells (neurons) and nerve pathways that connect our extremities to the central nervous system via the peripheral nervous system. The neurons of these systems are able to conduct signals based both on electrical current and chemically-mediated neurotransmitter-receptor mechanisms. Students will read primary literature and design experiments to test their own hypotheses on how changes in neurotransmitter levels affect behavior and nervous system development. Students will be able to apply what they learn to what is known about psychological conditions such as addiction, schizophrenia, and depression.

This course begins by introducing students to the concept of sustainable development. Development professionals, engineers and city planners interested in sustainability must consider a series of factors when designing products, projects, and cities that will have lasting impacts on the planet, human populations, and local, national and international economies. As problem solvers, these actors can play a fundamental role in resolving development challenges – or in making them worse. In this class, we will examine what drives the need for environmentally and socially sustainable design, explore leading theories and concepts from the field, and work together to come up with potential solutions to real-world scenarios. Some questions we will discuss are: What does it mean to design products that are good for people and for the planet? How do we build products without negative social and environmental impacts? How can development staff and engineers apply their skills to address problems in developing countries? This course explores these questions through a combination of sustainable design exercises, film excerpts, peer-based activities, and instructor lectures.